Questions About Blanket Flowers

My little sister got a Blanket Flower and wants it to last longer than her petunias did, which lasted 2 months. We wanted to know what sort of special attention it needs or if it’s just a more laid-back type of flower. Also, there were little red ants in her petunia flower pot when we took out the soil. We were wondering if the ants might have caused the petunias to die so quickly. Or maybe it was just the hot Texas sun.

Answered by Heather on June 17, 2011Certified Expert

A.

For the petunias, likely it was a little of the sun and a little of the ants. Petunias need plenty of water under hot sun and if they were not watered 2-3 times a day, depending on the heat, they would have died more quickly. The ants tunneling through the roots would have sped this along.

Blanket flowers are more drought tolerant than petunias, but if you have them in a pot, I would recommend that you water them at least daily for optimal growth,

I have Blanket flowers that are starting to lose their petals. Can I deadhead them to get more growth?

Answered by Downtoearthdigs on June 28, 2015Certified Expert

A.

Yes, you can remove the spent blooms. If you want additional plants next season (on annual varieties), allow a few to remain for self-seeding in the garden or save some of the flower heads to get the seeds for next year.

Two years ago landscapers put in perennial garden with Gaillardia Goblin. They have been slow to start–almost looking dead by end of fall–plants laying on ground with a weak flower. This year was a wetter spring and one of the plants looks quite good but the other has a massive amount of green leafy plants spreading around the ground but no flowers. The leaf seems to resemble the outer leaves near the ground. The plant with the flower looks like a “regular plant” then with these same leafy plants coming up all around it also. Do these “go wild” and not flower–maybe just a weed coming where a plant used to be?

After a lavish first blooming my seemingly healthy blanket flower died completely back. My foreclosed right beside it seems fine and is blooming fine. Help?

Answered by Downtoearthdigs on June 29, 2016Certified Expert

A.

Any sign of insects or disease on the leaves?
The plant generally should not have died back until fall.
Since you have other plants nearby that are not effected it is not likely environmental.
You could try to treat the remaining plant with Neem Oil. This acts as both insecticide and a fungicide.
Sometimes a loss of plants just can't be explained.